Dear Johoreans,
Johore is at the cusp of creating history for the second time. When the mighty British colonialists implemented the Malayan Union soon after the Second World War, the movement against it gestated in Johore under the leadership of Dato’ Onn Jaafar. That movement, UMNO, spearheaded the objective of safeguarding traditional values and institutions of Johore. The UMNO of 1946 fought against a foreign enemy who wanted to enslave the Malayan people and colonialize their minds forever.
Onn left UMNO having failed to convert the Malay based UMNO into a multi-racial party reflecting the composition of the Malayan uniqueness.
That historical UMNO was accorded a judicial burial in the eighties when the court declared it was an illegal party leading to the creation of UMNO BARU by then Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad. Over the years, the word “Baru” was jettisoned and it is now known as UMNO.
The reincarnated UMNO lost or abandoned its original fight against injustice, its accommodation to multiracial, multilingual and multi-religious composition, instead it adopted a course averse to the spirit of compromise and sincere understanding.
In the eighties, finally the country witnessed the demise of the spirit of compromise, accommodation and saw the rapid growth of racial and religious polarization in every sphere of Malaysian life, and the determined attempt to undermine judicial independence.
Twenty-two years of Mahathir’s governance is a testimony of the country’s transformation into a developing country aiming to achieve the developed nation status, no doubt; but at what costs and at what sacrifice? Yes, the development was fertilized by political corruption which also the saw the apparent growth of greedy ruling party politicians lining their pockets at the expense of taxpayers’ money.
By the time Dato Sri Najib Abdul Razak was catapulted to be the Prime Minister by Mahathir the country had lost its goal of a united Malaysian people, corrupt-free-society and a country which believes in rule of law. Instead, we saw how a thief could be venerated as a hero, a simple road accident turned into a racial affair.
These are the dangerous developments that had been taking place since Mahathir’s governance right up to time of Najib Razak’s, and during the brief premiership of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. Corruption has reached its peak and we are left to wonder whether there is any area where it has been left untouched.
UMNO, whether you describe it as Lama (old) or Baru (new), had been dominating the Malaysian political scene for more than six decades and has rich experience in running election campaigns which cannot be termed as following the rules. It was like Siamese boxing that was too pronounced – no rules.
The UMNO [Baru] which having been relieved from power has pursued and is pursuing a kind of scorch earth policy, meaning, the victorious party should be deprived of easy governance. It should not win the hearts and minds of the people, therefore, every form of obstacle has to be created, devised and implemented until the people become disillusioned against the party that had unseated them in Putra Jaya and in some States. It toppled the Pakatan Harapan government infamously called the Sheraton Move. It then withdrew its support for Tan Sri Muhyiddin and has its own Vice President as the Prime Minister.
The Malacca State government lost the UMNO support and eventually lost the power in the State. What was the position in Johor? True, a minority government was holding wafer thin majority but there was no threat to it. But the ruling party whose authority has not been challenged wanted a State election following the victory in Malacca, on the pretext of instability, the author of which is UMNO.
Therefore, the necessity to dissolve the Johore state assembly did not arise. What did arise was the greed for power. This greed was accentuated by the Malacca victory and an expectation that if Johore could be won the treacherous expedition could be launched in other States with a final push to recapture Putra Jaya.
Who are behind all these perfidious manoeuvres? Who else but the prominent leaders who face criminal charges in court?
Assuming the Federal government were to fall into the hands of those who have subjected the country to immense shame and economic disadvantages, the whole world will be laughing at us; in fact it is already laughing at us.
It is in the hands of Johoreans to define the destiny of future Malaysia and that is, whether they want a corrupt free government which believes in rule of law or a government that thrives on corruption. Thus, Johoreans shall have to, on 12th March 2022, not only for Johore but for the whole of Malaysia, define the destiny of the future generation. Yes! A Malaysia which respects rule of law, which does not tolerate corruption, respects human dignity, honours all Malaysians, their languages, and their cultures. Let not our descendants curse us in for failing to stand up when the call was clear.
Johoreans should ensure the defeat of the corrupt ones and their supporters, so that Malaysia and Malaysians can stand tall. Bury corruption and the traces of social polarization.
SAVE JOHORE, SAVE MALAYSIA
